


Ghost of a Rose

by AmelieZLT



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Autumn, Death Liam Payne, Enemies to Lovers, Fairy Zayn Malik, Fluff, Halloween, Halloween Challenge, Kinda, M/M, Minor Character Death, Mushrooms, No Smut, They fight a lot, Tiny Zayn, Travel, Witches, both own pets, they never even kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:20:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27295561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmelieZLT/pseuds/AmelieZLT
Summary: It's Liam's job to take the souls of plants to the afterlife. His normally really boring job gets really difficult, when he's supposed to collect the souls of a few mushrooms who Zayn considers family. Together they try to save the lifes of the mushrooms.
Relationships: Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Comments: 16
Kudos: 26
Collections: Ziam Halloween Challenge





	Ghost of a Rose

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lost_in_my_Dreamgalaxy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_in_my_Dreamgalaxy/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [AmelieZLT](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmelieZLT/pseuds/AmelieZLT) in the [Ziam2020HalloweenExchange](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Ziam2020HalloweenExchange) collection. 



> The title is inspired by the song Ghost of a Rose by Blackmore's night. The lyrics have nothing to do with this story, but the title fits and it's a beautiful song.
> 
> I wanted to finnish this at the beginning of the week but I didn't have the time, which is why I finished this now at 4am. So don't be surprised if you find typos etc.
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy reading this just as much as I enjoyed writing it, I'm really excited about reading all the other amazing fics written for this challenge!
> 
> (Btw I count mushrooms as plants in this story, the image of a tiny Zayn lying on a mushroom was too cute)
> 
> Tumblr: ziamrightnow

Liam sighed. Another boring day in the forest, collecting the souls of dead plants. Never in the world he would have thought he'd end up like this. He took the soul of a dying pine tree and put it in his bag. 

Myths said plants could talk once, communicate just like he did. Liam almost wished that was true. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember the last time he held a conversation. 

A little bit of company would do him good. The only thing close to that was his dog Grim. But that just wasn’t the same.

Instead he could only hear the birds in the trees and the wind blowing through leaves. Once that had been his favourite part of the job. But after years and years of this sound, even that sounded boring to him now. 

A little tired he sat down under a tree and pulled out his list. Grim laid down next to him, her head in his lap. 

He crossed out the pine tree and checked his next victim. It was a whole bunch of mushrooms not too far from here. Should be easy enough.

\-----

When Liam arrived, he wasn't alone though. A Little fairy with black hair was already there. That was surprising, he never met a fairy before.

He lay on top of one of the mushrooms, softly caressing it. This might make it more complicated. When Liam came closer the fairy looked up. His eyes widened. 

"Noo! Don't come closer! Leave us alone!"

Apparently the fairy already knew what he came here to do. He probably knew about his job too.

Liam tried to ignore him, which wasn't easy, now that the fairy jumped off the mushroom to scratch Liam's legs. 

"Can you just let me get them? They're dead already anyways."

"WHAT?! You want to kill my mushrooms? What's wrong with you? They're my family, my home." He shook his head disapprovingly. "You're a terrible, terrible person." 

It looked like Liam was wrong. That fairy didn’t know what his job was at all.

"Look-what’s your name?”

“Zayn.”

“Look, Zayn. This isn't my decision. Mother Nature decided it's time. All I'm doing is guiding them to their after life so their souls won't get lost." Liam tried to reason with him. It didn't seem to work.

"you just can't do that. It's cruel. They're still so young. They're basically babies."  
"Zayn. It's October. Many plants die now", he tried to reason with the angry fairy, “it’s just how life is.” 

Zayn turned around to look at the mushrooms. Then he turned to Liam again, grinning. Liam was confused. Nothing he said was funny in any way.

Zayn seemed to notice his confusion. “Bighat says you’re an idiot”, he explained. The answer left Liam more confused than he was before. 

“What are you-“

“Bighat. The big mushroom here. These are White Point, Reddie and No Leaf. They told me you wouldn’t be able to hear them. You aren't a listener.”

“Not a listener? I don't listen to what?”

“Their voices.”

“Don’t tell me you actually believe that they can talk.”

“In this case the word ‘believe’ is a bad choice. I know it. I hear them talking right now in this moment. All you have to do is open yourself up and listen. Plants have so many things they want to tell you.”

Just when Liam wanted to tell Zayn how crazy he sounded, a mouse came running towards them, jumping onto Zayn. It was quite a funny sight, because the mouse was huge. So big that you could barely see Zayn under all the fur.

“I know, Bernie, I love you too. Yeah, you’re a good boy.”

That name made Liam laugh. It sounded so usual compared to the others.

“What are you laughing about?

“Bernie? Really?”

“Alright, what’s the name of your dog then?”, Zayn asked with raised eyebrowes, not looking amused anymore. 

“Grim.”

“Like those dogs in myths who guid the souls of people into the after life? You’re right, you’re so creative.” 

Liam didn't know what to do, it’s not like Liam generally had great social skills after being alone for such a long time. And fairys were extra complicated. 

"Just calm down. I'll take their souls and then I'll be gone, that's it..Your family will be happy."

Just like he expected, it didn't seem to really work. 

The fairy picked up a few nuts who lay close to his mushrooms and started throwing them at Liam. Not expecting the attack, Liam quickly raised his arms in front of his face to protect his head.

He didn't know a few nuts could hurt that much. The fact that Zayn still kept on insulting him and telling him what a horrible person he was didn't help either.

“Ouch, stop!”

Zayn slowly started to calm down. Instead of mad he looked sad now.

"Why are you doing this? Where am I supposed to sleep, who am I supposed to talk to?" 

He could see that Zayn was holding back tears. His heart melted. It felt wrong to take them away. It was his job tho, it's not like he had a choice. Mother nature relied on him and he couldn't let her down. 

"You'll find another mushroom to live with.

"And I know you blame me right now, but I can't control life or death. I'm not the reason the plant dies. I just bring their souls to a different place." Zayn nodded, still looking close to tears. 

“Can you just give me one day? To say goodbye? You can come back tomorrow.”

Liam couldn’t say no to that. It wouldn’t hurt and if that helped calming down the energetic fairy… 

\-----

When Liam returned on the next day, he could hear a voice. Does Zayn have a guest? Or is he talking with the mushrooms? 

As it turned out, Zayn wasn't specifically talking to anyone. Instead he chanted something while holding a sign. 

When he came closer he understood what Zayn was shouting. "Save the mushrooms! Save the mushrooms!"  
His sign read "protect the environment".

He sighed. He shouldn’t have trusted Zayn. Of course he only asked for more time to think of new ways to change Liam's mind.

“Stop it, Zayn. There’s nothing you–or I–can do now. Just let them go” Liam interrupted. 

“I can’t let them go”, Zayn said stubbornly.  
"Look around. It's autumn. Some plants manage to prepare themselves for the winter. Others don't so they die. That's normal. That's how life and nature work." 

"So I'm not allowed to be sad when that happens? I'm not allowed to be sad when my family dies? And I'm not allowed to try to save my family?"

"Of course you are allowed to do whatever you want. But again, those mushrooms aren't that special."

"Not special? they're all different, with different personalities, voices and personalities. If you just actually listened to them, you would know."

Liam rolled his eyes. He really had better things to do then discussing this with Zayn. 

"Why dont you just try actually saving them instead of annoying me and stopping me from doing my job?"

Zayn dropped his arms. “And how the fuck am I supposed to do that? When I noticed they weren’t doing good, I did everything I could. Even with Bernie here I’m far too slow to actually get anywhere. There’s only that much you can do in such a small radius.”

Liam knew he would most likely regret this decision, but he felt sorry for the fairy and he wouldn’t say no to some company. “ Come wth me then. I have to travel close to the magical river. It’s been a dry sommer, many plants died for that reason. Maybe a bit of its water could help?”

Zayn thought about that for a while  
He didn't look thrilled, but after one last look to the mushrooms, he agreed. "Alright. You'll have to carry me then."

Zayn attempted to climb up Liam. Quickly Liam put his hand under him for the case he fell. Which turned out to be a good choice, Zayn couldn't hold himself anymore and fell directly onto Liam's hand. 

"You might want to be more careful." he chuckled, when he noticed what he was doing so he immediately stopped. Nope, he’ll never do that around the annoying fairy ever again. 

He put the little fairy in the pocket of his shirt. “Let’s go then.” 

\------ 

The sun was starting to go down. They had been traveling for about 4 hours now, mostly in silence. Zayn was still sitting in Liam’s pocket, by now he was probably at sleep. 

He was quite happy about the silence, Zayn spent most of first half trying to argue with him. Every time Liam ignored him, he started telling Liam insults that all the plants around them supposedly said to Liam without him hearing them. 

Bernie sat in his bag while Grim was still walking beside him. She was used to long walks.

Shortly Liam complentated waking Zayn up, but he didn’t seem to be in the mood for talking and Liam wanted to give him space.

That's when the river finally came jnto sight. All the plants around the river looked extremely healthy and strong. Still, they didn't seem to be immune to the cold.

The leaves were the same shade of red and gold as in every other part of the forest. 

"Wake up, Zayn. We arrived at the river."

Zayn started moving in his pocket. "Finally."

"Yeah. But how do we transport the water back to the mushrooms?"

Zayn didn't seem to know an answer either.

That's when Liam saw a guy walking towards the river. He had a bucket in his hand. From what it looked like he was a human.

"Come on, let's ask him", Liam said.

Zayn didn't seem to be haply about that so Liam sat down his bag and put Zayn down. He started walking towards the guy before Zayn could complain.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Liam. I wanted to ask you if I could borrow that bucket."

The guy inspected him warily. "I'm Niall. And why would I give it to you? I need it myself to get water for my garden."

That must mean the guy liked plants. That could be useful. "You see, I also have a garden and one of my plants is dying. So I really need this water to save its life."

In Liam's opinion that was close enough to the truth.

"And I need my garden to survive. If I don't give them water, they might die so I won't be able to eat them. So I need a good reason to give it to you."

Liam remembered the gold coins he still had in his pocket. He pulled them out. "Please. I can even pay you."

The guy raised his eyebrows. "Two gold coins for the bucket?"

Liam nodded. He knew that was far too much, but he didn't need the gold anyway.

Now the guy grinned. "Deal."

\-----

“Stooop”, Zayn screamed. Liamn almost dropped the whole bucket. 

“What was that for?” He asked anoyed. It was the next morning and all of them had a terrible night sleeping on the hard ground.

Zayn sat on top of Grim, pointing towards a flower. “The daisy over there! It will die! We have to save her!”

Liam couldn’t believe it. He agreed on helping the mushrooms. Not random flowers. 

“Don’t tell me you want to save the whole forrest now. We might not even have enough time to save your mushrooms”, he reminded Zayn. 

“If I could save the whole forest I would. But thats not what this is about. All we have to do is give it a bit of our water, That will probably save her. We’ll still have enough left.“

“Alright.” Liam was’t in the mood for an argument so he just walked towards the flower and poured a bit of water over it. Immediatly the flower started to look healthier.  
“She’s doing better! We saved her life!”

Liam just shook his head over Zayn’s excitement. Still he couldn’t help but feel really happy about saving the flower. That’s probably just because that meant less work for him. At least he tried to tell himself that. 

\-----

When the mushrooms came into sight, Zayn jumped off Grim immediately and ran towards them to ”talk” to them.  
Liam hurried up to get to them. He was curious if the water would help. Normally he wouldn’t expect anything to happen, but after seeing it heal that daisy… maybe because of the magic it would help?

“We got you guys magical water. I’m sure it will heal you”, he heard Zayn say, “come on, it’s worth a try.”

He stepped closer, the bucket full of water still in his hands. “Should I?”  
Zayn nodded. His face was unreadable. 

Liam nodded too, trying to encourage himself. “Alright then.”

Carefully he poured about half of its content over the mushrooms. He almost expected them to gain back their strength in just seconds, just like the daisy. But nothing happened.

“Use the rest of the water, maybe it wasn’t enough”, Zayn demanded.

Liam did as he was told. Still nothing happened. 

\-----

After waiting for almost two hours, both of them had to admit, that their plan didn’t work. According to Zayn, they felt better now and maybe they even looked a bit better, but they were still on his list.

Liam decided to break the silence first.

“Any other idea what could be wrong?” 

“I don’t know. Aren’t you the plant expert?”, Zayn clapped back.

“You’re still blaming me, aren’t you?”

Zayn snorted. “Of course I am. You want to take my family away. What else am i supposed to think about you?”

“I don’t want to. I have to. It’s my job. And I’m not responsible for the death.” 

“Maybe you’re not causing the death. But you’re not really helping either.”

Liam raised an eyebrow. “So offering you my help, carrying you, your mouse and that bucket through the whole forest while having to endure your annoying comments is ‘not really helping’ now?”

“If you really wanted to help you would have tried to save those plants instead of just accepting their deaths. You could have saved so many lifes. The daisy on our way? There are hundreds of other plants in a similiar situation but instead of helping them, you wait until it’s too late.”

Liam wanted to defend himself, but he knew it was useless. The fairy did have a point, even though Liam would never admit that. So instead he tried to find other possible solutions.

“Instead of blaming me for everything in the world that goes wrong, let’s just go through all possible causes again. We thought it was the dryness, but that wasn’t it. At least it wasn’t the thing killing them. Maybe something’s wrong with the earth? Or vermin live in the roots?”

“You think so?”

“It’s worth a try, isn’t it?”

Zayn nodded. “So what should we do? Do you want us to plant them somewhere else?”

“That could be a good idea. Do you have a shovel?

Zayn thought for a moment. Then he said, “Actually, I do. Bernie and I once stole one from a bunch of travelers who were searching for plants here. We never actually thought we’d use it, but we wanted to make sure that they stopped separating those poor plants from their families.”  
“Amazing. So where should we plant them?” 

\------ 

Transferring the plants to their new home was harder than Liam had imagined. Their roots reached deep into the earth and Zayn stopped him every few seconds to tell him he was not being careful enough. 

After a while, Zayn joined him and started digging them out with his bare hands. That took a lot longer of course, but at least Liam didn’t have to deal with Zayn’s complaints.

They planted the mushroom under a tree not to far from them. Now they just had to wait again.

“Alright, I’m just gonna leave with Bernie ”, Zayn said , the mouse that was a bit taller than him right beside him. 

Liam wanted to ask where they were going, but they walked straight into Liam’s bag with the pine tree still in it. Liam never got to actually bringing him to the after life.

It looked as if Zayn was doing one of his talking with plants sessions again. It rustled a bit in the bag, he could hear Zayn’s voice, then it was quiet.

Liam decided to give Zayn’s advice a try. It seemed to be a good time, he was relaxed already and open to whatever the plants had to say. So he closed his eyes and listened to the world around him.

After all the years working in the woods he normallly blended out all sounds around him. Now he concentrated on exactly those sounds.  
The birds were the first thing he heard. They made a lot of different sounds, but together they created one. 

He could also hear a rustling. Small animals maybe? Or was that Bernie?

Then he heard the trees. The wind brushing through the already yellow leaves, like a steady whisper of thousands of voices right above his head. 

Maybe Zayn was at least a little bit right. This felt really relaxing. 

Liam was lost in his thoughts when he heard a whisper. But it didn't sound like Zayn at all.

Still Liam asked, "Did you say something?" Zayn stuck his head out and looked at him, his hair a mess. 

"Huh?” 

“Did you say something?”, he repeated.  
No, I was just listening to Mr. Pine Tree. He tells Bernie and me amazing stories" 

So it couldn’t have been from Zayn. Liam was so sure he had heard something. A whisper, barely audible but definitely there. 

"Thank you. I love telling you my stories, most people don’t actually listen to us anymore." Liam got up so quickly that he almost bumped his head on a branch above him. That definitely didn't come from Zayn. His lips didn't move and it sounded completly different. 

But it definietly came from the bag. But if it wasn't Zayn and no other person was here then who- 

“Your stories are truly the best.” Zayn said into the bag. Liam suddenly realized who it could have been. But it couldn’t be true. Could it? 

“Mr. Pine tree?” Liam tried. It was very unlikely, but-

“Yes, my son? Zaynie here told me a lot about you.”  
Liam’s eyes widened. He looked at Zayn, trying to find some sort of comfort after his shocking discovery. He looked a little bit shocked too. But also happy. Too happy in Liam’s opinion. Because somehow even now, one of the worst parts about this wasn’t the talking tree, but admitting to Zayn that he had been right.  
Fuck, a talking tree.

\------ 

"Maybe we should go Mary and ask her for advice." Liam proposed. From what Liam heard she knew a lot about plants. 

"Mary? You mean the witch?" Zayn frowned. Liam nodded. "I don't like that. She probably dries herbs and stuff like that. Why would I ask a killer how to save lives?" 

"I don't think we have a choice, Zayn. Do you want to do everything to save your family or not?" 

"I do. That doesn't mean I want to. Remember that human at the river?"  
“What’s up with him?”  
“He grew plants to kill and eat them, Liam. That’s cruel.”

" She's a witch, not a normal human."

"That doesn't make it better. I heard stories. They’re just as bad as humans.”

“We just have to try." 

“No.” 

\------

A few hours later they were moving towards the village Mary lived in. It was hard to change Zayn’s mind, but after a lots of of arguing, Zayn had agreed. 

When the first house was visible, Liam put Zayn back into the bag.

"Stay in there and don't do anything stupid around humans. I don't think they'd react well if they saw you." 

He could hear Zayn moving around, trying to find a comfortable position.  
“Well, I don’t want to see those monsters either so it won’t be a problem.”  
Liam must shook his head. There was no point in arguing with Zayn. And if it made sure Zayn would hide away from humans, he would be just fine with that. 

\------

"WAIT, DID YOU SEE THAT?" Zayn screamed. Liam should have known that Zayn wouldn’t be able to keep quiet.  
"What? Did I see what?" 

Zayn pointed into the direction of the nearest house. "That. Did you see what’s standing in front of their house?" Liam looked closer, and suddenly he understood what Zayn meant. 

"Oh. That." In front of the house stood a bunch of pumpkins, faces carved into their bodies. "How could they do that?" Zayn whimpered, sounding horrified.

Liam shared his feelings. Now that he knew Zayn had been right all along just the though of intentionally killing plants terrified him. But carving things into them and seemingly using them as decoration was on a completly different level.  
"You told me humans kill plants to survive. How does this help them survive? What do they gain from this?"

Liam shook his head. "I don't know."

They walked past them, trying not to look at them. That was pretty hard though considering they stood in front of every single house  
The weirdly dressed kids all over the streets did help distract them though.

"Where do we have to go?" 

"I’m not sure. I think she lives on the other side of the village. We should recognize her house if we see it."

\------

Liam was right. Mary's house was very easy to recognize. All the other houses were painted in bright colours, only this one was completely black.

In front of her house she had a garden with multiple different plants. Other than the plants in front of the other houses, hers didn't show a sign of the winter coming closer. Their leaves were still green and looked really healthy. Maybe the witch would actually be able to help them.

"Put me on your shoulder, please? I want to see everything. "

Liam smiled and did as he was told. Then he knocked.

After a very short time, a woman in black pants and white shirt opened the door. In her hand she held a bowl with candy.

"Oh. I thought you were kids. What do you guys want? As long as you're not also here to get candy?" 

"What? Why would we want candy?"

"Just forget it. What are you here for?"

Zayn answered the question. "We need your help. It's about my plants. They're dying"

The witch nodded. Then he looked at Liam with raised eyebrows. She stepped aside and let them in. On their way to her living room she started talking to Liam, "I'm surprised someone like you is accompanying him. Isn't that a conflict of interests?" 

"I'm sure it seems like it. But really, I kust want to help them. Especially now that I started listening to them."

The witch raised her eyebrows again. "You did? That's certainly unusual..."

"That doesn't matter right now", Zayn interrupted them, "the question is, can you help us?"

"That depends. What did you try to do to save your plants?"

"Water from the magical river and moving them to another spot. But I don't know if it's even possible to still save them when they're already on my list-", Liam answered.

Mary sat up and fell into hus words, "What? They're already on the list?"

Zayn nodded.

She sighed. "I'm so sorry. But when they appear on the list there's nothing you can do. It's too late already. Not even my magic can help you now."

Liam closed his eyes. He had almost expected to hear this. Still he had hoped for an easy solution, a way to fix this. 

He heared a sob right next to his ear. Right, Zayn. He must feel terrible. 

Just as he reached out for him, Zayn jumped off his shoulder onto the couch and ran out of the room.

Liam couldn't blame him. He would need a bit time for himself too. But he was extremely worried, what if he did something stupid, or if someone saw him?

"I'm really sorry. I wish I could help you somehow. Will he be fine?"

He sighed. 

"It will take a while for him to calm down. Thanks for your help. But I really have to go now."

\------

Quickly Liam walked towards the direction they came from. Zayn would most likely try to get back to the mushrooms as soon as possible. 

Liam would have to find him here in the village, otherwise he would have no chance. 

That's when a voice whispered, "If I was you, I'd hurry up."

He looked around. He couldn't see anyone.

"It's me, the rose."

Liam felt stupid. How did he just completely forget about plants talking? He walked towards the rose that stood in front of a house in a small pot. 

"Okay, but what are you talking about?"

"The fairy."

"The fairy? How did you know I was searching for him?"

“With how you walked down the street obviously searching for something right after the fairy ran by made it quite obvious. But even without that I would have known. I am a rose after all. Love is my speciality."

Liam was confused. "Love? What are you talking about?"

"The strongest emotion that fairy was feeling was sadness. But hidden beneath that there was definitely love. For you. And you return those feelings."

His heart started pounding. The rose must be wrong. It couldn't be true. The rose was lying. 

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The rose laughed. "I think you do. But it's okay. Take all the time you need. And now go after him. Quickly.”

\------

Liam only managed to catch up with the fairy shortly before they reached the mushrooms. He suspected that Zayn was lying when said he couldn’t go very far on his own.

It was a misserable sight. Liam never saw the little energetic fairy this down before. Annoyed, offended, scared, maybe a little bit sad while thinking about the mushrooms - yes. But never to this extend. It was heartbreaking. And that feeling shocked Liam.

Zayn sat on top one of the mushrooms, never looking into his direction. 

"Can you just...leave me alone?" 

"But-"

"For nature's sake, just go Liam! Just go back to your other dead plants! It’s not like I need you anymore!"

Liam nodded, even though Zayn couldn't see it. He felt a bit hurt by Zayn’s words, but he knew he didn’t mean them. He just lost those most important to him.

If Zayn needed time, he wouldn't pressure him. He remembered what the rose said, but tried tried to suppress the memories. It was bullshit anyways.

He turned around and walked through the forest without a goal in mind. He still had the list in his pocket, he knew he finally needed to collect those souls. 

But he was too scared to pull it out. He knew the mushrooms would still be on it. He couldn’t handle seeing that. 

When plants were just things without personalities and voice, he never had problems with his job. Now it felt so unfulfilling. Why only start interacting with them when it was too late already? 

Suddenly he got an idea on how to lift Zayn's mood up. Two ideas to be exact. Now with a goal in mind he started walking faster. 

\-----

"What are you doing here? I thought you went back to-”

"I quit."

Zayn looked at him confused. "What do you mean ‘you quit’?" 

"I quit." Liam repeated. "I quit my job as death. I'm tired of all that bullshit. I want to help instead. I want to save plants before it even gets that far." 

He looked Zayn straight in the eyes. Then he looked to the ground. "With you." He said a lot quieter. He didn’t plan on rushing out with everything like that, but he also knew that he wouldn’t dare to say it if he waited for too long.

Zayn opened his mouth and closed it again. Then he sat down, his back leaning against the mushroom. "With me?"

Liam nodded. 

Zayn was quiet for a while. Liam thought about something he could say, a way to ease the tension.

"I'm sorry." Zayn sounded quiet, exhausted. 

"What for?"  
"For saying it was your fault. I know if there was anything you could have done to help then you would have."

Liam nodded. He was glad that Zayn seemed to forgive him. He still waited for an answer though. 

“I appreciate your offer. And I’d like to come with you. For a while at least. I need to search for a new home. Which means I can only come with you temporarily. Till i found something.”

Now was the time for Liam to reveal the second surprise. “Actually… I got something for you. He reached into the bag next to him. Slowely he pulled out the rose. The pot really was very small, small enough to travel with it. 

Zayn gasped. “You didnt.”

“Yes, I did. This rose was really nice to me and I liked the thought of having it with us. I could imagine myself – and you – spending lots of time with her. It’s really small, too, so we’ll be able to take her with us. Not forever of course. One day, when she's too big, we can settle down somewhere. A nice spot for all five of us. Is that okay with you?”

Zayn stared at him with big eyes, his mouth opening and closing. Bernie ran out from behind a tree, looking really excited. Liam laughed. 

He kneeled down in front of the small animal and held his hand out. Bernie ran his arm up, settling down on his shoulder. “Yes, Bernie. This is a friend. Their name is Charlie. I met her in the village.”

\------ 

Liam loved their time together. In the last month alone they managed to save the lifes of multiple plants. 

Even more died, but sadly that was not avoidable. The closer they got to the winter, the faster all of them strarted to die. Some couldn’t be saved because they usually only lived a year, others were sick and some didn’t get enough water of minerals.  
Still he’d call the week succesful. 

The others were sitting a little bit away from him, whispering to each other. He couldn't complain about a bit time alone, he still wasn't used to having that many people around him 24/7. 

But he couldn't help but feel as if they were planning something. Nothing bad he assumed, he trusted all of them fully. But it did make him curious. 

After a few minutes of staring at Zayn, Zayn looked over to him. Liam couldn’t help but think about how cute he looked. He had needed some time to recover, but now he looked so happy, so free, Liam couldn’t help but smile at him.

Zayn looked at the others and said something. Them he turned to Charlie and did something, but Liam couldn’t see what. Then he came over, hands hiding something behind his back.

"I have something for you." Zayn sounded nervous, the way he was looking at the ground made him look almost shy.  
Liam sat up, fixating zayn with his eyes. "What is it?"

Zayn held out his palm. The item he hid looked like a root. Confused Liam reached out his fingers and took the small thing into his hands to inspect it. 

“Do you know how much a root of their plant means to a fairy like me?”

“A lot, right? Those plants are your family. Something like a root is very vulnerable and intimate.”

Zayn nodded. “After the law of my people, giving someone the root of your plant is very intimate. You’re inviting the person into your family, your home while also showing how much you trust them. It’s a big step.”

“Then why…” Liam looked down on the root in his hand, touched that Zayn even allowed him to hold it. 

“I do trust you. I want you to have it. But I also want you to understand just how much that would really mean to me. I guess it can be compared to a marriage between humans. Just stronger. And as long as you don’t give it back, our bond will last forever. Do you want that?”

Liam had to hold back tears. “Of course I do! There's nothing I’d rather do!”

"Oh my god we're married! We're fucking married!" Zayn started jumping around.

"Did you see that, guys?”

The other three were all looking at them. Liam was sure if they could they would smile at them now. 

“Congrats!” , Charlie shouted. Liam smiled at her and stood up. He picked Zayn up who was still jumping around and walked over to the others.. Then he knelt down in front of Charlie. 

He knew she must have approved too, and it must have meant just as much to her as to Zayn. 

“Thank you.” He said. He didn’t only mean the root. He also meant the advice, them always being there for him, being a friend to him. 

“Of course, I love having you officially being part of our family now. Welcome.”


End file.
